Apparatus for coating and treating metallic materials



April 13 1926. 1,580,888

J. l.. HERMAN APPARATUS FOR COATING AND TREATING METALLIC MATERIALS Filed Feb. 28, 1925 2 sheets-sheet 1 April 13 1926.

J. L. HERMAN APPARATUS FOR COATING AND ITREATING METALLIC MATERIALS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 28 1925 Patented Apr., lid, T926? WST/Aras W PATE-Nr raies`my ".rosnrn L. HERMAN, or PEORIA, ILLINOIS, AssIeNOR To MIDLAND MANUFACTURING y COMPANY, or PEORIA, ILLiNOIsA CORPORATION or ILLINOIS.

' ArrAmiTUs non coATING AND TREnTI'NG METALLIc MATERIALs O .f I" I K .i Applicationjled February 28, 1925. Serial No. 12,341.'

To LIZ @from 'it may concern: f

Be it known that I, rJOSEPH L. HERMAN, a .citizen ofthe United States, residing at Peoria, in the county of Peoria and State of j Illinois, have invented new and usefull Improvements in Van vApparatus for Coating This 'invention has reference to an apparatus for coa-ting and treating materials having an iron base and particularly the purposes.

. The invention has for its principal objectv to provide an apparatus for carrying out the process shown anddescribed in Letters Patent Aissued to; me vOctober 3,` 1922, "No.- 1,430,648, for a'process of coating and treatin materials having-an iron base.

e invention'hasv for, a further object" aan apparatus of the character described, including a heat-treating' furnace jthrough L Whichthe coated material isldrawnimmediately. upon itsl` leaving the molten bath,

- and inywhich the coated lIifiatefrialis `heattreated ;v suchtr'eatment havingfor its object to produeea` coating morerresistantto4 A stillfurther object atmospheric.A rusting and corroding condi'- tionsthan for. ordinary galvanized wire, and ,'.which further'will permita heavier coated wireto be used-in wire-fabricating-machines without causing the coating to 4 Orackfor flake off, as is the case 'withjhea'vilyQcoated alvanized wire coated. bymeans Otan or inary`v galvanizing apparatus. l-

of the. invention is I .toprovide 'in .a galvanizingl apparatus a heattreating 'furnace ,adapted toA receive and" heat-treat the coated Wires immediately upon their 'leaving the molten-bath yand in thel revision of'askimming mechanism located etween the molten-bathl and-entrance `to thea furnace, said skimmers adaptedto lremove skimm1ngs dross and other foreign 'matter which might adhere to the molt'en coating metal as it .leaves the molten` metaLbath,

`but without materially. reducing thethick ness of the coating or the amount'of coating.= metal `on the -wire.

A further object of the invention is to provide Ain' a continuous wire .galvanizing apparatus a skimming mechanismv forref-f" moving the foreign matter which' may be dragged out of the moltenf'fspelter. bath by on' the line, '5

the-,liquid coating, without however, removing the spelter of the coating, which includes a means of applying air or any other gaseous medium. carried at any desired temperature .below the melting pointof the coating mat'eiial or foreign material, to'chill or C:t'reeze and Treating Metallic Materials, of which the followingis a specification.

the skiminings'or foreign material upon the outside lofsthel coated wire and forming, in

effect, avmolten metal tube within the skimmings or foreign material surrounding the skimmings or foreign material is skimmed ofi' the coating Without substantially or maing, allowing thevwire to .pass on with an iexible and smooth# j That the invention ing .drawings forming a part of this `description, illustrating. a. preferred embodimentof they invent-ion, in which Fig. 1 is a'side'elevation, on a` greatly re.-

hduced scale, showing the delivery rend of maylbe'gmore fully u n- .Y derstood, reference'ishad tothe accompanycoating on the'. Wire.;` lInthis manner the coating and treat-mentor wire used in the. fence industrylandor telephone and other teriallyreducing the thickness Aof the coata zinc-spelter-bath and tlie'receiving end' of' fFig. 2 is aplan viewof Fig". l;

Fig. of my skimmer me 4 i'sga front Aelevation of Fig.

3' is' an enlarged detail side' elevation p Tianism at the receiving end of a heat-treating furnace;

V a heat-treating .furnace and my skimmingA Amechanism -associated therewith;

Fig. -isacross-sec-tion through the skiiiimei mechanism .and a partial longitudinal' -`sectional. view through the 'heat-treating furnacenas the same would appear if taken teria! on the coated wire -by chilling orfreezingsuch material, but leaving a' molten'- Eig. 6 is a plan-view, as thesaine would appear'iftaken on the-line 6-9-6 Fio'. 5, and

5,5-Fig. 4, the viewffurther`v` illustra-ting. the skimming ofthe foreign mai- Y loo HfFig. 7-is a detail sectional View illustrat-A `ing the means Ofapplying an'air blast;

Jike vcharacters ,of reference denotecori respondinglparts'throughout the figures.

As is understood in the :art of galvanizing wire, a' galvanizing vapparatus -or-A dinarily includes an annealer, acid baths, a

iuxing hath, 'a 'drier 'and'. al molten-metal bath, I haveelected to show only the molten bath '1` and. only'a section of that'. For the A are drawn and heat-treated. As the details of the heat-treating furnace form no part of the present invention, except in its association with the molten-bath and the skimming mechanism, reference will only be made thereto or such parts thereof as will illustrate the practical carrying out of the invention. l

rlihe invention, in its preferred form comprehends a round bar or rod 4 supported at the. entering `end of the furnace 2 and formed or provided with a .plurality of spaced annular grooves 5, having preferably tapered or oppositely inclined side walls 6. Over this bar or rod 4 and through these grooves 5 travel the coated wires A, which emerge from the molten spelter'bath 1 with a heavy `coating of spelter'and which preferably pass through the heat-treater or fur-y nace 2, after icrossing said bar or rod, for

heat-treating'the coated `(wires, in manner and for"the purposes specified in my said patent. 'As the coated wires leave the molten spelter bath they carry with them skimmings and other foreign material, designated B, see Fig. 5,' which, if not skimmed from the coated wires, will leave the" coating rough and uneven andthe wires unsuitable foruse in fabricating machines.

.I provide, therefore, in connection with said bar or rod 4, and which provides one element of the skimmer, a means of coolin the bar lor rod andmaintain it at a desire temperature 4below the melting point of the coating or-skimmings and foreign material,

' and which will chill the skimmings on coni. is preferably air lor other gaseous medium p tact with the bar or rod and skim the same back on the wire. The layer of spelter between the frozen exterior of the skimmings and the wire, being in a morev or less molten state, a heavy but smooth coating yis carried forward with the wire. -This cooling means working on the principle of an air blast and may be applied to the b aror rod .at any desired points, although I prefer to apply such blasts at orV near the point where the wires cross over the bar or rod. In the form shown, the cooling medium is applied externally. Such cooling means comprise, preferably, a hollow cylinder or tube 7 supported at the entrance end of the heat-'treater or furnace anddabove the bar or rod 4, as

shown, and is arranged to be connected to an.

air, or other gaseous source of supply, not shown. Said cylinder, or tube, isprovided with a plurality of blast nozzles 8 arranged to have their openings at points approizi-` l mately over the grooves 5 in the bar or rod 4, over which the wires A pass.

galvanizing, several which may collect mariees In my Patent, No. 1,480,648, I brought out the fact `that a process, such as therein shown and described, obviated the necessity of using wipers or other smoothing mediums for the coated wires leaving the; moltenbath, and ,which, theretofore, were considered lindispensable by all wire 'galvanizers 'Ihe reason-for this -is due to the action ofv the vheat-treating furnace, which not only heat-treats per se, but also evens up the coatingw as though it had been passed between wipers, and the resulting action is to produce a heavy coating, which is flexible, malleable and smooth. It is further stated in said patent that another advantage in the eliminationof the wipers is that a heavier coating is permitted to remain on the wire, which, in ordinary. practice, would be re-V moved by the wipers as the wires pass therebetween. The fact that the coated wire is not wiped as it leaves the molten-bath allows a heavier coating to remain upon the wire.l Such1 wire, when subjected to the action of the heat-treatment, will not only cause the heavy coating to distribute itself around the wire, but eliminates brittleness of the coating. Like in the process described in said patent, the present apparatus obviates the use of wipers; however, I provide a skimming. mechanism located between the molten-bath and the entrance tothe heating chambers of the heat-treating furnace.

Such skimming mechanism neither wipes nor smooths the wires, as would wipers, such as are ordinarily used. In the art of diHerent types of wipers are employed, designated as pressurewipers, of the screw or lever types, and charcoal wipers, such as are used in connection with the coating of telephone and telegraph wires. The skimming mechanism, which I here employ, has for its object the removal of'skimmings, dross, and any'foreign matter onthelcoatings as the coatedv wires emerge from the coating bath. Of course, I appreciate the fact that thesurface of the molten coating metal, at the oints where the wires emerge ltherefrom, may be kept free of dross, skimmings and foreign matter in a well known manner byy anism will also prevent-reachersf forming on -the wires.

What I claim is:- g v 1. Ina continuous wire galvanizing apparatus, in combination with ajtank containing a molten-coating hath, of` a. heat-treating furnace, and skimming mechanism 1n advance of thefurnace for removlng foreign matter adhering to the outer surface ofthe coating Without materially reducing the thickness of the coating, including means for applying a gaseou'smedium forretarding the movement of the foreigmmaterial.-

2. In a continuous Wire galvanizing apparatus, in combination with a tank containing a molten-metal bath, of .a skimming means for removing foreign matter such as drossL and skimmings adhering toS4 the outer surface of the coating, including a -bar pro- 15 vidi/ng with spaced annular grooves, through which they coated Wires are adapted -to pass on leaving the metal bath and which holds ,back the dross and skimmings, anda series of nozzles for ejecting a gaseous medium,

and skim the foreign matter `from the coated4 surface of the wires WithoutJ materially r' ducing the thickness of the coating.

Signed lat Peoria, in the countyl of Peoria i and State oflllinois, this 23d day of Feb. A. D. 1925.-

. i 'JOSEPH-L HERMAN 

